What Will iOS 6 Use Its New 'Bluetooth Sharing' Feature For?

There has been a slew of news overnight about the newly released Apple iOS 6 beta, and here's another interesting if mysterious, bit. There's a new tab called "Bluetooth Sharing" under the iOS privacy settings. It seems the new OS will allow apps to share more types of data over Bluetooth than before. What are Apple's plans for this feature?

We're really not sure why Apple has introduced this new feature, but our best guess is that it's related to Apple's new Passbook. In many ways, Passbook is the iOS answer to the NFC-enabled Google Wallet, except that Passbook is way more tightly integrated throughout iOS. It's basically a more sophisticated mobile payments system for iOS.

The new Bluetooth Sharing feature allows apps to share data with other devices even when you're not using the apps. It seems like an excellent way for your phone to talk to retailers, airlines, local restaurants, etc. whenever you're nearby. It wouldn't necessarily need to be used for payments — that might require more security — but it could be used for everything from serving you vouchers to automatically pulling up boarding pass info when you're walking up to the gate at the airport.

But honestly, we're just not sure from the limited information we've got. So what's in store for us with Bluetooth Sharing? We'll have to wait and see. [9to5Mac]